The Choices of a Leader
by ShootinSta
Summary: Since I just plain hated the ending to Animorphs, this is a straight-off continuation. This was actually the way I thought it would all end. First fanfic up in 'ere. Enjoy. O.o


The Rachel hurtled towards the Blade Ship

The _Rachel_ hurtled towards the Blade Ship. 

Jake Berenson stood on the bridge, the same grin Rachel always had plastered onto his face. Marco told him to make crazy, reckless and ruthless decisions, and sure enough, he had. He was ramming the Blade Ship, the only possible way of destroying the deadly vessel. Marco stood next to him, looking nonchalant, even if they were hurtling towards their certain doom.

"See, Jake? You shouldn't listen to me. I could be with my honeys right now…Maybe even Jeanne!" Marco quipped, a slight squeak echoing in his voice.

Before Jake could respond, The _Rachel_ hit the Blade Ship. A resounding crash erupted from the impact, explosions blasting from both ships. The Blade Ship suffered breaches in just about every deck, and cracked; fires cascading in a domino-like effect as it began to break in two. The giant battle-ax shaped starship split in two, pieces of various metals and bodies beginning to float out into space. In a gigantic explosion, one half decompressed into the vacuum, causing almost nothing to be left except scattered parts and frozen corpses. 

The _Rachel_ had suffered almost complete destruction. The bridge had miraculously remained intact, though the section seemed hardest hit. Bulkheads and conduits were scattered everywhere, sparks bursting from every remaining console. Force fields had been thrown into place, preventing what was left from being sucked out into space. 

******

Jake opened his eyes, lying almost uninjured on the cold deck. He closed his eyes at a searing pain in his head. He weakly stood, grabbing onto a fallen bulkhead to keep himself steady. As his vision cleared, he noticed red brightly staining the metal under his hand. He choked, taking a small step back. He saw the floor below him covered in an endless swamp of blood. His stomach twisted into a knot as he saw the bulkhead he had grabbed onto was jutting from Jeanne Gerard's stomach, her glazed eyes wide with shock. Jake stumbled back, just now beginning to notice the red and brown feathers also littering the bloodied deck. But where the hawk it came from was, Jake didn't dare find out. He had lost again, except this time, no one would come out victorious; no one would win the war. 

Jake's head snapped around, hearing a low moan. "Marco?! Where are you?" He screamed, frantically searching around. Leaping various obstacles, he saw where his best friend in the universe lay. He struggled frantically to get everything off Marco, dragging his companion into his arms. 

"Jake-Man. Looking worse for wear. Better than me I bet…" Marco wheezed, closing his eyes in pain, "Hey, man, check if my legs are there, will you? Can't feel a thing." 

Jake shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. "They're all there. You look fine. Just the same. Exactly, I swear. You're just a little dizzy, that's all. We'll just get you to a shuttle. There has to be one left…" 

Marco chuckled, coughing up a wad of blood as he did. His dark eyes were blood-streaked; his black hair caked with blood from a head wound. His arms and legs were coated with red, various gashes and bruises showing through his clothing. Worst of all, a shard of metal jutted straight out of his back. He knew why he couldn't feel his legs, and knew Jake did too. "Don't even bother with getting me out, bud. I knew I should've stayed home with Wetherbee and all my supermodel friends…" A sarcastic, pained smile crossed his tanned face, "Remind me not to go on any more missions with you, okay?"

"You won't have to, I swear," Jake promised, tears rolling down his cheeks, "Just morph, and we'll get back home and you won't have to do anything else for me."

"Too tired, I'll take a nap first, alright? Tell Jeanne I said hi." At his final request, Marco beamed at Jake. 

"I will, I will. I'll tell her."

"Good. Love ya, man. I'll just take a little snooze and we can be off…" Marco wheezed, grinning up at Jake. With a final sigh, he closed his eyes for the last time.

Jake went into a panic, staring wide-eyed at the body. "No! No, Marco! Wake up!" He sobbed, shaking his best friend wildly, "Just wake up and morph! You won't have to do anything else for me, I swear, I swear! Just wake up! Come on, buddy! Morph!" He continued shaking the limp body in his arms, pleading with it to wake up. He wouldn't, couldn't live with the fact his best friend had just died in his arms, "Please, Marco. Please, wake up." 

For who knows how many hours, Jake stayed like that, shaking and pleading with the body of his friend. Just trying to get him back, disbelieving that this mission was the young man's last. The former leader of the Animorphs couldn't bear to let go of the hope that Marco would come back. The hope he lost three years ago with Rachel.

He slowly let go of the stiffened, blood-caked body, grabbing a hold of the hand and dragging it across the wrecked bridge. He blundered along the remnants of the ship, through the wreckage and various plasma fires, until at long last he came to the remaining shuttle. Sluggishly boarding and hoisting the body in with him, Jake struggled to work the control that would bring him back home. 

******

Jake had somehow managed to work the Z-Space drive and get back to Earth. He got out of the shuttle, carrying the corpse of Marco. He had managed to get back to the military base he worked for, and wandered aimlessly onto it and a colonel found him, mumbling about "Promising to get him home." Over and over again. 

A week went by before the former leader could get his bearings straight. Doctors said his lapse was merely results of a concussion, but it was so much more than just that. He had failed twice; lost everything with two fatal mistakes. And what he was going to hear wasn't going to help him.

"Jake. It's about Cassie," Cassie's father was sitting at Jake's bed, shaking his head slowly, "Jake, she's dead. The poor thing's dead."

This, was a blow for the young man, "W-what?" he stuttered, eyes wide in disbelief. 

"Two weeks ago. She and Ronnie got in a car accident. A bunch of Andalites in morph were trying to drive…Ran straight into their car. The firemen and the cops could barely get her body out of the wreck," the grown man choked, "She didn't feel anything, Jake. It was quick. We…We had her funeral the day before you came back." 

Jake couldn't say anything. He just slumped down into the bed, tears rolling down his face. He had truly lost everything in his life. He thought that after he got out, he could just weep and talk to Cassie, and she'd always be there to support him. But Cassie was gone. She was already in the ground before he even got to Earth. 

******

Jake hadn't done much better over the next year. Sure, he had to get up and get out, but he wasn't the same. He had gone to Marco's funeral, a funeral he was _sure_ his old friend would've been proud of. The streets were lined with hundreds of drop-dead gorgeous women, wanting to pay their respects to the deceased hero. He was sure that Marco was whistling and smiling somewhere. After the funeral he had been swamped by offers to do shows and explain everything that occurred in Kelbrid space, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about what had happened. He could only think about how lost everyone, everything. Three years he had kept his five Animorph companions alive. And he had lost them all in a thundering blow three years later. 

He'd gone over the possibilities hundreds of thousands of times. If he had sent back up with Rachel, she might not have been so overwhelmed. She might not have died. If he had only sent James with her, he might not have had to have died in vain either. Maybe if he had gotten Marco, Tobias and the others off The _Rachel_, only he would've had to die to destroy the Blade Ship. Maybe if we worked harder to find the Blade Ship, instead of slacking off, instead of even sleeping, he could've been with Cassie and she would never have gotten into the accident. Maybe if he found Marco sooner and gotten him to morph…Maybe…

The guilt weighed up, and it was almost too much for Jake to bear. Sure, he could go on with his teaching, write a small, depressing book here and there…But he was almost never seen out in public otherwise. The mobs, the questions, the painful answers were all too much for him. Some days he'd think he was almost like he used to be, others he could barely keep himself from having a breakdown. And again, he'd go over the choices he could've changed, or not have made.

******

Jake was sitting at his dining room table, staring aimlessly out the window. If his friends were around, they'd be worried. But they weren't. And he was again hitting himself for that fact. 

Then, he was suddenly in a void. Nothing could be seen, no light, nothing. Just blackness. Glancing around, Jake saw why he was there. Both the Ellimist and the Crayak appeared before him. If he had any noticeable mouth, Crayak would most certainly be grinning quite sadistically. 

The Ellimist stepped forward, eyebrows furrowed deeply on his head. He had resumed his grandfather look, billowing robes sweeping in a slower, almost more depressed way.

"Jake, Crayak and I have come to an agreement. A way to return your friends." The Ellimist's head was bowed, eyes closed in an upset manner. 

"What? How? What'll I have to do?" Jake asked, eyes shining with an eagerness they hadn't known in over a year. 

"I kill you." Crayak boomed, his gleaming red eye seeming to shine with further eagerness. "I kill you, simple as that."

"Then, I shall return your friends." The Ellimist sighed, opening his eyes to look at Jake, "It's your choice. It's your life."

Closing his eyes, Jake thought to himself. Crayak had always hated him, he had destroyed the Howlers, he helped to stop the Yeerks from spreading. And on the contrary, that's what The Ellimist favored about him. His heroism, his leadership, his determination to good. But those traits were useless now. They were useless without a war, without his fellow Animorphs. 

Jake looked up, glaring straight at the Crayak's gleaming eye. "Kill me. Bring back my friends. Bring back _Everyone."_

"They will all be returned, Jake. Rachel, Tobias, Marco, Cassie and Aximili," The Ellimist nodded, eyes seeming to glaze over at Jake's choice, "Are you sure you wish to do such an act to return them?"

"Of course he is!" Roared the Crayak.

"Let him speak, old man."

Jake wondered why he had to think on this. The choice was clear. They'd be double the heroes, double the miracles, double famous. Tobias and Rachel wouldn't be the 'Forgotten Animorphs' as so many called them, Cassie could continue to help the Hork-Bajir, Ax could be the Andalite Prince he was always meant to be, and Marco could live it up with all of his groupies. They wouldn't be dead because of stupid, carelessly thought over choices he had made in the past four years. 

"I'm sure. I'm positive. Kill me. Kill me now." Jake said, his voice loud and strong. His dark eyes showed a fierce determination to his words. 

Again, the Crayak would've grinned, "Very well, Jake the Yeerk-Killer." And with that, Jake fell, eyes clouding in death. And yet, he had that ruthless grin so known to Rachel, his clouding eyes still bright and determined as ever. He died, looking every bit a hero, every bit a savior. He sacrificed himself to return his friends to life, which was more than a warrior's honor.

******

The five of them stood, rigid with shock. Tobias was slowly morphing into a human, Cassie staring in disbelief. The Ellimist explained, and they all understood. They all knew that Jake was sure he had made the right choice, his final command. And perhaps he had, perhaps he hadn't. It may not ever be the same without Jake, yet the five that remained could very well live life without suffering from the guilt their former leader had.

But any doubt that they had disappeared the moment Rachel and Tobias saw each other. It was a picturesque moment. Something out the fairy tales, magical and wondrous. Tobias had lived without the first person that ever loved him for three long years. He had carried her urn, lived alone to mourn. And Rachel, her dying words were to tell Tobias she loved him. And when they're eyes met, it was magic. Pure and simple magic. 

They hugged, stared into each other's eyes, and in the final moment, no questions asked, they held each other in a tender, passionate embrace. Jake's sacrifice hadn't been in vain. He had brought back the two people who had the best chance of living happily ever after in the entire universe. 

And the two showed that to each other in one enchanted moment. 


End file.
